POLE POSITION- HEAT 6                                                                                                                                                                                                 Fujairah Grand Prix                                                                                    Fujairah , United Arab Emirates - 28th September 2002                                                               

Victory Team
News 2002

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TOP TWO SPOTS PROVE BLUE IN FUJAIRAH POLE 

The East Coast of the United Arab Emirates yesterday declared the winner for the Fujairah Grand Prix Pole Position during Heat 6 of the 2002 UIM Class One World Offshore Championship.

Roaring off with a blistering fasted lap of 2 minutes and 36.21 seconds, Pole Position winners, Ali Nasser and Ali Al Qama in Victory 7, stole their second consecutive first place pole win of the season in the qualifier for today’s starting grid.

Propping beautifully despite pre-race planning for flat calm seas, Victory 7’s quick decision on a new choice in gear ratio and propeller size proved the perfect set up for the day. “We were really pleased with the set up. It was spot on and we loved the conditions out there.” said Ali Al Qama, throttleman for Victory 7.

Making it a true blue sweep, Saeed H. Al-Tayer and Mohammed Al Marri in Victory 1 further delighted a home crowd with a double whammy win for the Dubai stars when they came in with a second place win with a run of 2 minutes and 39.13 seconds.

Third place went to current Pole Position champions, Bjorn Gjelsten and Steve Curtis in Spirit of Norway, with their fastest run of 2 minutes and 39.50 seconds. A rattle in their first run initially had them back in the pits lying in 5^th place. However, in no time at all, both their problem and their third place on the podium were fixed. 

The day was not with out calamity however. For the Dubai stars an unexpected encounter with a wave had the big blue boat, Victory 1, limping back to the pits and into the sick bay. “We broke off the spray rail on the bottom of the boat at the front in the first run.” said driver Al Marri. The boat will be ready to race today, but will require up to 9 hours of work.

Despite strong 8-14 knot winds and dark clouds, many boats decided not to do a third run, opting to save both their engines and their stamina for today’s race. “The temperatures were so hot out there that it was like sitting in an oven.” said one competitor. “We were expecting hot, but this is beyond belief. You have to be very fit physically to compete, not only at this level, but also at this time of year!”

Debut of the day -but with ten years experience in racing Class Two- Steffan Roth of Sweden , stepped into the cockpit of the red boat Jotun-Ugland as temporary replacement for driver Andreas Ugland. His 4^th place finish in the Pole Position yesterday certainly marked him as a man looking to go places- fast. “I am ecstatic with the result. I actually prefer the bigger boats in Class One, especially as the conditions were pretty tough out there today.” Although practice will have to come during the races, Roth does have the advantage of having partnered with Jan Hillestad for many Class Two races.

The big Aussie diesel boat, Riviera , certainly had the power for yesterday’s pole with a 5th place finish, but it seems that their ballast was a problem. “The boat performed very well, though we really could have done with a little more fuel to keep the nose of the boat down in the heavy swells.” said driver, Peter McGrath. Today’s race will see Riviera looking to challenge the big guns of offshore -Victory 1- for their third place in the overall standings.

In the rest of the pack, Highlanders fastest run saw them come in with the 6^th fastest place and a second start up in today’s line up, followed by GFN Gibellato in 7^th and ECS in 8^th.

The yellow boat Damas will also be starting in the second start line up with a 9^th place finish in yesterdays pole, followed by Roscioli Hotels in 10^th and Binautica in 11^th.